Method and apparatus for heating.



G. G. BELL & J. ST. V. PLETTS. METHOD AND APPARATILS PoR HEATING. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 29, 1913.

Patented Aug. 5, 1913.

L. r nv EN ons,

WIT/VESSES 'Ano/Ml rs.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE GILBERT BELL, OF LONDON, AND JOHN ST. VINCENT PLETTS, F TEDDING- TON, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS TO ELECTRIC HEAT STORAGE COMPANY, A CORPORA- TION OF NEW YORK.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR-HEATING.

Specification of Letters Patent. l

Patented Aug. 5, 1913.

Original application filed September 25, 1909, Serial No, 519,558. Divided and this application filed January 29, 1913. Serial No. 744,833.

T0 all whom t may concern p Be it known that we, GEORGE GILBERT BELL,

and JOHN ST. VINCENT PLETrs, subjects ofthe Kimr of Great Britain residin res ec'' tively, at 14 Addison Court Gardens, London, England, andv 43 Clarence road,-Ted dington, in the county of Middlesex, England, have invented a new and Improved Method and Apparatus for Heating, of

which the following is a specification.; L. I This invention relates to..a.,new..and 1m proved 'method of heating waterorother 1iquid.,byelectricity, .andm-the .iapparatus therefor, 1ra-mn; gi.;

The usual method of .heating,watergeleqtrically consists in .placing'the. quantity, of i -water lreq uired to beiv heated,v -in an elec-trically heated vessel, whichmay-.-;or.-,may,. notf be providedwithfa-.heat insulatinglcoatmg- Such .a method, however, lis. only. .capable Y of .heatingr a predetermined quantityf of water and requires a @certain ,timeto produce the temperature required while. itimakes-,a

large and-1. briefs demand; upQIliithe Lele'ctriq supply. 1.,

electrically. heating-.,a ,heat accumulator. ,QI .mass of a. substance .capable of'storing :heatg and in imparting thatstoredeheat; to. .water as and whenrequired. 'ilvlorefower, according tothis invention, itsispossible lto consume? the electrical energy,either-.continuouslytori during those. hours of .the -daywhen it may vbe purchased most cheaplyfor-fthe purpose -of storingup aconsiderableamount of-.heatg representing the laccumulation- .produced,;by the application of a :s maller. amount of .electric energy for a period-ottime, andtodef liver the hot water whenever requiredein any/.quantities upto a maximum, depending on the size of. the-apparatus; Thee-'latten consists, in its simplestiform,of-a heat} accumulator or mass .of a.substancecapable .of withstanding. a high. temperature.-V having @ai high specific` o rf latent heatwaluefandfit should be a goed conductorsofheat.so as' to impart its heat equally..to`the water. Iron, for example, is a suitable-.material to.

employ, and a mass ofiron providedwith a duct or coil of pipe embedded .therein or' passing through Vthe-same; for. the passage of the water, and an electric heating device,

both the coil andthe heater being surround- .provided for mixing the steam or hot wat-er with cold water to give the temperature required. The mass of iron may have any shape, but it is desirable that it should have the least possible surface for its volume in prder that the escapeof heat may be aminimum, and yit is .therefore preferable -to cast ja sphere, of ironv about a, coili of .pipe,. through which Da SSeS. 'the-iwaterto tbe heated.. The

.helrned. so that vthere .isf anlequalfmol: um@ pfiron withiuand .withouttheconvolut1ons, and, lthe pipe may .beef any seci eelgofriue may; be. of anylengthfendtmay electric; .current t-hrougha'resistance of any i? '15ind,..or in. the :case of an. alternating. cur.- Feet. .by the hysteresis., .015. 1a....core.- around which the urrentipasseatorby.the Passage .Qt a. secondaryf induced; current .through a Q.; these methods? .andthe .heating deYiCeOf the apparatus may be within orffwithout v themassoifiron, or the mass of.;i ron may itself. form -part ofthe heating'device. In

the .caseA of aii.alternating-fcurrent` with A a -1 secondary heat-producing circuit, Ithe pri- .mary circuit may tbe, separated" .fromjhe masscfiron by a layerofheat insulating material, vor may be entirely outside the insulatingcoating so that .it conducts away aslittlelieat; asy possible from-,-themas's of lIOIll fil., nu: 1:: .,n: l ,The insulatinggcoatingsurrounding. the mass of. ironwand,the heating deyioe may be insulator,. and of; any thickness, and-it` may .if desirable for strength-or otherwise, .have an external or internal.- metal. sheathing,d or it may consist ofg a. doublet sheathing with `made of any substancewhighi ,is,a .g00d heat,

a. .vacuum between the walls, and the, exr` ternal. and internal surfaces .ofthe sheathiings vvmaybe polished of; silvered to minimize radiation.V f

.'The steam or hot water produced by the passage of the waterthrough the h0t mass of iron may be mixed with cold Water either by employing a thermostatic valve or cock which causes the water to issue at a prac-, tically constant temperature, or by e1nploy ing an injector or mixing nozzle which picks up snlicient water to condense the steam, or by employing a hand-regulated valve or cock by means of which the temperature of the water can be varied as desired.

It. is evident. since there is no material which is a perfect heat insulator, that a certain amount of heat must escape from the hot mass of iron, and the latter is therefore preferably placed, together with its insulating coating, within a tank from whichA the cold water to be converted into steam or hot water, or to be mixed with the steam or `hot water, may be drawn if desired, so that the heat escaping is not lost. This tank may also be provided with a heat insulatingr coating.

The current used in this apparat-us for heating may be obtained romga source on which the demand is variable, and when the demand is at its maximum and can takeall the supply, the current tothe heating apparatus of this invention is adaptedto be cut oil by any known form of automatic switch.

Referring now to the drawing accompanying this specification and forming part hereof, in which 'one form of our invention is embodiedQFigure l represent-s an apparatus embodying our improvement capable of carrying out .our improved process; Figs. 2, 3 and Lit'represe'nt different forms of valves for controlling the discharge of the heated liquid, Fig-2 being a section through a thermostaticfvalve, and Figs. 3`and 4 vbeing vertical and horizontal sections through a hand-operated valve;

and Fig. 5- is a vertical "section through washer'k. l

= Referring to-Fig. ll of the drawing, m, is

' a--heat vaccumulator consisting of a mass of iron provided with a coating o 'of insulating material.` h is an electric heater arranged in the interior of mass m. The mass m' and the heater t areplaced within a tank l. p is a plug inserted into the mass m and its insulating coating 'v for carrying the electric mains e. These electric mains e are preferably provided with an automatic regulating switch arranged preferably for automatically cuttingoff the supply of current at the times when the demand upon the electric circuit is the greatest; that is, during the so-called peak ho-urs. vThe tank Z is provided with an inlet pipe In, connectingr with a source bf water supply and an outlet pipe u. c is a coil of pipe arranged in the mass m and having aninlet pipe i connected with the Water supply pipe and passing through the walls of tank l to coil c. 0 is the outlet pipe of the coil c. The outlet pipes u and o connect at the point 4 which may consist of a thermostatic Valve. t is the cock of the orifice pipe a. lfVhen the cock t is turned, water will flow both through the mass of iron m and tank l and be mixed at the valve 4 in any proportions desired, so that it will issue from the oriice a at a substantially constant temperature or at any temperature desired.

In Fig. 2, which is a section on a. larger scale, of the thermostatic valve shown in Fig. 2, o is the inlet for the steam or hot water issuing from the coil through pipe o. n is the inlet for the colder water from pipe u, and both inlets are partially closed by the valves which are carried on the rod f. The inlets o and n screw into the barrel d which is provided with a projection d and is threaded at t for attachment to a cock. A rod' of metal z having a smaller coeflicient of expansion under the action of heat than the metal of the barrel d,`is `fixed to the latter as by the screw z and the valve rod f is pivoted to the barrel projection d at cl'-P and pivotally connected to the-metal rod s at z2, so that 4if the Water passing -through the outlet duct or barrel d increasesiin temperature, it will cause the barrel (Ztoexpand more than the rod z, thusmoving the valve rod f and valves f about thepivot-cl2 in a direction whichclcses'theiinlet.'0- and opens the inlet n. If the temperature` of the water decreases, the action is )the reverse, with the result that the fwater issuing laltf't will be maintained at practically, constant temperature. 'In place of the'thermlostatic valve 4 and its cockfwelmay-usea handregulated valve to vary the proportions. of

water issuing from the-'pipes o iandlufasdesired, so as to obtain anyfdesl'reditemperature of water, -such a =valve"`and. cock as a vertical section of such a hand-regulated valve, o is the inletfor the'steaxii or hot water issuing from the pipe o. n is the inlet from the pipe u, and a isthe common outlet. A tapered plug g having passages Iw and lits into the top part of the barrel 'd and is held in place by the screwed cover use of the hand valve of Fig. 3,.or the thermostatic valve of Fig. 2 involves the periodic or intermittent Withdrawal of hot vwater or steam from the coil c orfof the less heated Water Jtrom the tank Z, and the corresponding-periodic or intermittent withdrawal of heat from the accumulator m or the tank Z.

In Fig. 4 it is seen that the passages 'w and in the plug g are so arranged that, as the plug g is turned, the passage a; first opens to the inlet n and then, as it is closing, the passage lw opens to the inlet o until, when the latter is wide open, the former is just closed, thus enabling the steam or hot water from the coil c to be mixed with the colder water from the tank l in any desired proportion.

In Fig. 5, which is a section on a larger scale, of the insulating washer shown at c in Fig. l, b is thel pipe provided with flanges b Awhich are separated by the insulating washer lc. The joints between the flanges b and the insulating washer k are made water-tight by means of the bolts s which are fitted at each end with insulating collets c, so that there is no metallic connection between the bolts s and flanges b and the conduction of heat along the pipe b is therefore greatly retarded.

Any suitable form of automatic electric switch may be employed for the purpose of cutting 0H the current when the maximum` demand is being made on the electric supply as, for instance, an electromagnetic switch which automatically opens upon a predetermined voltage drop in the main circuit.

The material of the accumulator has high latent heat value which is to be taken in the sense of a capacity for storing a considerable amount of heat whether such heat be latent or specific in the strict technical sense.

' The present application is a divisional application of one -iiled by us in the 'United States Patent vOiice September 25, 1909,

, for a method of producing hot water, etc., bearing Serial No. 519,558.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: N

1. The method of heating water and of supplying the water at any desired temperature, which consists in electrically heating a relatively small amount of water to a high temperature, conserving the heat in excess of that required to heat said small amount of water and employing it to heat a large amount of water to a lower temperature, drawing 0H the heated water simul- A'taneously from both sources in varying amounts from each as desired, and discharging the same from a common outlet, whereby water may be supplied at variable temperature.

2. A system for electrically heating water and supplying it at any desired temperature, comprising a source of electricity, an electric heater supplied with electricity from said source, to heat a relatively small amount of water to a high temperature, conserving the heat in excess of that required to heat said small amount of water in a heat accumulator, means to contain a large amount of water heated by said accumulator to a lower temperature, and means to simultaneously draw off the heated water from both sources in varying amounts as desired and discharge the same from a common outlet.

3. A system for electrically heating water and supplying it at any desired temperature,

comprismg a source of electricity, an elec-- trical heater supplied with electricity from said source, means to cut off the electric supply to the heater when demand on the source is at its maximum, a heat accumulator heated by said heater and containing a small amount of water heated to a high temperature, means to contain a large amount of water heated to a lower temperature by the accumulator, and means to draw off the heated water simultaneously from both amounts of water in varying quantities and discharge the same from a common outlet.

4. In an electric heater for liquids, the combination with two receivers one of larger and the other of smaller capacity,`b0th receivers being permanently connected with a source of supply, of an electric heating device arranged to heat the receiver of lesser capacity to a higher degree than the. other,

and a mixing cock for withdrawing the contents of both receivers jointly.

5. In an electric heater for liquids, the

combination with two receivers for the' liquid to be heated both permanently connected to a source of supply, of a heat accumulator for one receiver, an electric heater for said accumulator, and a mixing cock communicating with both receivers.

6. A system for electrically heating luid and supplying it at any desired temperature, comprising an electric heater adapted to heat a relatively small amount of water to a high temperature and to conserve the heat in excess of that required to heat said c small amount of water, means to contain a large amount of water heated by said excess heat to a lower temperature, and means t0 simultaneously draw oi the.heated water from both sources in variable amounts as desired and discharge the same from a common outlet.

In testimony whereof, we have signed our names to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE GILBERT BELL. JOHN ST. VINCENT PLETTS.

Witnesses:

H. D. JAMESON, W. MORBEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

